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Rockingham - 21st/22nd May 2005 – Rounds 2 & 3

Wet & dry... But sliding down the table.

Rockingham. Concrete walls. Never driven there. Very wet, aquaplaning - scary. Enough said!

Other than a quick once over, the car had stayed on the trailer since Brands last week. The driver, however, had spent an hour or two in front of the telly, watching a DVD of an Elise doing laps around "The Rock" to try to get an idea of which way the corners go! That and studying the circuit guide was the only way of learning it at all.

The weather forecast wasn't great, though. The drive up on Saturday morning was nice and sunny, but by the time the car was off the trailer, the clouds were coming in and the rain was falling, hard. So, wet qualifying then. I softened things up a touch, and it was then just a case of seeing how things went. The first qualifying was actually not so scary. I let Martin go out in front of me, but it was soon clear he had real difficulties getting the power down, as he was sliding all over the place. So, to my surprise, I soon found myself overtaking him. The car was behaving nicely, pretty neutral, understeer on the way in, and only excessive oversteer on the exit if I was too heavy with the right foot. Going flat around the banking of Turn 4 at the end of the lap was a little too brave though...

I was pleasantly surprised to qualify 7th out of 25 - behind the usual suspects of Alan, Liam, Simon etc. but in front of Buzzer and Martin. However, Liam and Simon had clocked laps around 2.28/29, whereas I was on 2.34...

Second qualifying was after lunch, and it was even wetter. There was a lot of standing water, particularly on the exit of the chicane. Now, that was interesting first time through - probably about 70mph plus, a very gentle lefthander, and total aquaplaning; no steering at all, heading straight for a concrete wall. One of those "Sketchley moments" but luckily there was enough grip on the other side of the lake to turn away from the wall and carry on down to the hairpin. The remaining laps called for a little more care and a slightly strange line through that section to keep the car as straight as possible through the water. I was out on my own for most of the session, so it was difficult to tell how I was doing, The laptimer was showing similar 2.34 sort of times, so I was reasonably happy. Coming back in, it turns out most people had dropped time in this second session, so I was fourth! Cool! Craig had done a flier to grab second behind Alan, with Simon next to me on row 2 of the grid. What was sobering, though, was to have seen Liam backwards in the tyre wall at the exit of the chicane. In only two timed laps he'd managed to clock a 2.35, so if he'd stayed on the black stuff, he'd have presumably been higher up the grid than 7th. The damage to his car seemed to be predominantly panelwork, so a bit of hammering from George, and a replacement door that turned up on Sunday morning, and he was ready to do.

The racing itself wasn't until Sunday, so after a few pints and a pub supper quite a few of us camped out at the circuit. Well, I didn't actually camp, as the rain and wind around made it seem more sensible to kip in the back of the Omega - surprisingly roomy and comfortable!

Sunday dawned fairly sunny. So it looked like the first race (in the morning) would be dry at least. Which I was glad about, despite appearing to be better in the wet than I expected. Sure enough, it was still warm and sunny when we lined up for the race - the first race of the day. Stacks of fuel in the car, as it was going to be 25 minutes or so of racing! A touch of confusion on the formation of the grid, as there weren't enough marshalls to help us line up on the grid itself. I think I found the right place, but a few others were scattered in random places! I got a pretty reasonable start, and was on the outside on the entrance to the hairpin, the first corner. A big wide line meant I was able to get on the power early for the exit, and found myself in fifth, right up behind Jez Clark as we moved onto the infield. I should really have been able to get past him, as he ran wide a couple of times, but unfortunately not. And then on the hairpin back on to the oval, Martin dived down the inside (I was watching Jez too much, and not my mirrors) and despite being slower on the exit was able to shut the door on me, forcing me to back off. Bit of a bugger... For about a lap I was still right behind him, so thought I might be able to get back, but slowly he pulled away as Andy Baylie started to loom in my mirrors and diverted my attention! The wrong gear at Tarzan slowed me enough for Andy to get the inside line, and he was past... Another poor gear choice and the chicane meant Craig got the run up on the inside into the hairpin. However, I was faster on the exit of the chicane, and we were side by side up to the next right hander. I had to leave him some room, which was lucky as he ran out of grip and slid right across my bows, forcing another lift and another lost place. Grrr. And then a lap or two later, a seriously sideways moment at Tarzan allowed Buzzer to sneak past. Not going well. However, I found that I could draft Buzzer nicely round the banking, and a couple of laps later was able to get the inside line into the chicane and make it stick. Interesting experience drafting someone at 110mph or so, a couple of inches of their rear bumper! It wasn't all over yet, though, as I wasn't paying attention to my mirrors again a lap or so later and George dived inside on the first hairpin, so another place lost... As it turned out, that was the last lap, so I ended up 9th. Not a great race, but some fun chasing Buzzer down.

First race, second corner.

Drafting on the banking

Race two was in the afternoon, and as the clouds built up, Craig and Liam started their rain dance. However, it stayed dry, and I was fourth on the grid. A decent start should mean some chance of getting a top six finish. However, it wasn't to be. I was probably trying to hard at the start and bogged down. It was only a fraction of a second to dip the clutch and get the revs up again, but by the exit of the first hairpin, I'd probably lost five places. And then I lost another one to Nigel in the touring who absolutely blasted past on the entrance to the chicane. I was right on his tail for a lap or so, while I worked out that if he could do the chicane that fast, then so could I! Having the nerve to do that took away his advantage, and I was able to pass him a lap or so later as I was quicker around the infield and on the banking, and got in front (ironically enough) at the chicane. And I think that was about it for excitement. I found myself out pretty much by myself. Jez Clark was a good 6 or 7 seconds ahead, and I couldn't seem to shrink the gap much. I had a good 8 or 9 seconds gap behind me, so I started experimenting with some corners a little more. At some I found a good bit more speed, but then a little over exuberance at Brook thumped me hard over the exit kerb, making the steering go a little funny! Luckily that was the penultimate lap, and nothing was too badly amiss, so I finished fine in a not particularly exciting 10th place having certainly not capitalised on a decent grid position.

What these two races have taught me, though, is that I really need to work hard on the braking, as I lost several places on hard braking hairpins. The car was also still a little two understeery, which was fine in the wet qualifying, but not in the dry race. A little harder on the rear suspension at Silverstone, the next race on 4th June. And time to bite the bullet and splash out on some more weight-saving - a Red Top battery will save 7kg, and chopping out the middle silencer on the exhaust a few more. That should then lose most of the 15kg of excess weight I'm still carrying around...

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